


Let Down Your Hair

by Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw



Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2020 [26]
Category: The Wells of Sorcery - Wexler
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Rapunzel Fusion, Canon Character of Color, Canon Queer Character, Canon Queer Character of Color, Class Differences, F/F, Pre-Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22919476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw/pseuds/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw
Summary: When things go south for Isoka in a hurry, she has no choice but to flee into the wastelands, where she finds a princess in a tower...Pairing: Gelmei Isoka/Meroe hait Gevora NimaraPrompt: Sequel/Prequel/Deleted scene OR Fairytale AUBeta: imaginary_golux
Relationships: Gelmei Isoka/Meroe hait Gevora Nimara
Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2020 [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620205
Kudos: 5
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2020





	Let Down Your Hair

**Author's Note:**

> Big thank you to my Best Beloved for introducing me to Ship of Smoke and Steel. Super excited to see that the sequel, City of Stone and Silence, has come out! Go read the original, then come back.

I rode out into the Half-Dead Lands, hoping the magistrate and his men weren’t too close behind me. Perhaps the magistrate had finally grown a pair; perhaps someone higher up in the gang had simply forgotten to pay this month’s bribe. Whatever the case, the local police had hit us like a ton of bricks. There had been no time to coordinate my escape with anyone, no time to go back for my sister. No time for anything except stealing a horse and heading out to the last place (I hoped) anyone would think to look for me. 

That meant the Half-Dead Lands, and that meant finding someplace to survive for a few days until the heat had died down. 

I cantered past the treeline and over a mildewy stream, hoping to hide my tracks. A quick scamper up the nearest tree pointed to one obvious sign of such civilization as could thrive here: a tall tower, just scraping above the stunted foliage. Years of standing lookout had given me keen eyes, or I might have dismissed the blocky smudge out of hand.

Blessedly, my path did not cross any of the rotting monsters said to lurk in this region. The tower was a simple thing: round, and made of bricks themselves made from the local grime-green mud. One item of note: no door at the surface level. “Hello?” I called, perhaps foolishly. 

“Hello?” came the reply from the lone window. I judged it to be at least five stories up. “Who are you?”

Peering down at me were sharp eyes set in a dark brown face: a beautiful young woman, probably within a year of my own age. “Call me Isoka,” I managed through dry lips at last. I guess the journey had been more stressful than I’d thought. “What, uh, what are you doing here?”

“Trying to escape, honestly. I’m Meroe, by the way. If I might ask, why have you come here?” 

“Funnily enough, the same thing you’re doing.” Our charming conversation was cut short as my horse came skittering past me, whinnying with terror. “Oh no,” I said with a grimace as one of the horrific denizens of this place stumped towards me.

“Here!” Meroe called, as a rope of unusual fiber dropped into my peripheral vision. “You’ll be safe up here.” I thanked my stars and set hand over hand, climbing as quickly as I could.

Not quite quickly enough. Pain lanced through my leg as a clawed tendril lashed out, gashing my leg as it tried to drag me toward its waiting maw. I screamed and without thinking, activated my left blade, swiping through the tentacle, freeing myself and sending the abomination scurrying back. With a curse, I pulled myself the rest of the way up, now well out of reach. 

“Your hair,” I mumbled as I realized what I had climbed. Then I fell forward, unconscious.

***

When I awoke, I was in an unfamiliar tunic. I checked my leg; it seemed fine, apart from some odd markings, almost like tattoos. 

“I had to clean and treat your wound,” Meroe explained briefly. “It had some kind of toxin, from the monster.” As if it heard itself mentioned, the creature battered itself against the walls of the tower. “Don’t worry, they’ve never gotten in before. They try for a day or two, but then they get bored.” Her eyes locked focus with mine. “You’re Melos.”

“And you’re a ghulwitch,” I concluded. The most dangerous kind of sorcery, and clearly she had it in power enough to be a death sentence in most countries. “Who saved my life, for which I am grateful.”

“Twice, but it would be impolite to keep score.” I recognized _that_ tone of voice. Stuck in a tower with a ghulwitch and an aristo. A rotting toothsome one at that.

Anyway you looked at it, I was certainly doomed.


End file.
